Midlands Housing Association Nehemiah UCHA is pleased to announce that it has appointed Jimmy Ogunshakin to succeed Kwadwo Owusu Darko as its new Chair. Jimmy is the Director and Founder of Mayflower Solicitors, in Birmingham. The law firm specialises in employment, commercial and corporate law. Jimmy has extensive experience of the Nehemiah UCHA Board. He was originally opted onto the board of United Churches Housing Association in 2003 prior to the merger with Nehemiah Housing Association in 2007.  He went on to become the first Chair of the Human Resources and Equalities Committee for Nehemiah UCHA in 2012. Jimmy brings with him a wealth of non-executive experience having undertaken other non-executive roles with housing associations and a Christian Charity.  Jimmy is currently the Chair of the Solicitors’ Sole Practitioners Group for Birmingham and the West Midlands. He is also a board member, adviser and Visiting Lecturer at the Birmingham City University School of Law.  

Commenting on his new role, Jimmy said: “I feel very privileged to have been chosen to be Nehemiah UCHA’s new Chair. I would like to pay tribute to Kwadwo Owusu Darko’s outstanding leadership over the last nine years. The challenges ahead as I see it, are about how we build on the successful growth which has been achieved to date and utilise the limited resources we have; given the landscape and the wider economy is shrinking and the direct impact on social housing providers like ourselves. 

Hopefully my commercial experience and legal perspective will help the board navigate towards a successful future. I am optimistic about the future of Nehemiah UCHA because of the very conservative heritage the organisation has had in terms of its financial management. We have a real sustainable business here , the tenants have benefited from a steady and close knit community feeling between them and the team at Nehemiah UCHA and this is something I would like to see continue.  We value our customers’ views on how Nehemiah UCHA is run and we will continue to do so. We have an ongoing refurbishment programme and we are making improvements to the customer experience so as to make it an enviable experience and one that they and their families are proud to be part of.”

Commenting on the appointment of Jimmy Ogunshakin, Llewellyn Graham, Chief Executive of Nehemiah UCHA, said: ‘We are pleased to welcome Jimmy Ogunshakin to Nehemiah UCHA’s Board. His leadership and experience will be very valuable in taking the organisation forward as we continue to provide and develop high quality housing and services for the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities of the West Midlands. Nehemiah UCHA now has 1,100 homes across Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall and outgoing Chairman Kwadwo Owusu Darko has given us sterling direction over the past nine years and seen us through our merger in 2007, our 25th anniversary in 2014 and reaching over 1,000 homes in ownership in 2015 and I am sure Jimmy will carry on the great leadership set by Kwadwo.”